


there's a little black spot on the sun today

by Duck_Life



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, HOXPOX, Missing Scene, Sad, Spoilers for House of X #4, Team as Family, does it need doing? then it will be done., hi i'm emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 05:44:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20522909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Scott leads a mission to take down the Mother Mold.Paige wants to know why Monet volunteered.





	there's a little black spot on the sun today

I.

“I can’t order anyone to go on this mission,” Scott says, surveying the crowd of mutants through ruby quartz. “It’s—”

“I’m going,” Jean says, speaking at the exact same moment as Logan, who takes out his cigar and says, “Count me in.” 

“The eagerness is always appreciated,” Scott says, his mouth tight. “I need everybody to understand— if we fail, we are leaving the mutant race in danger. Even if we succeed, we may be killed before escaping the Mother Mold. Is that clear?” 

Murmurs and nods echo through the crowd.

“As I said, I won’t be ordering anyone. If you choose to take part in this mission—”

“I’ll go,” Monet St. Croix says, shooting up out of her seat. 

Two rows behind her, Paige Guthrie’s mouth drops open, and she jumps up as well. “And me. I’m going.” 

“Please,” Scott says, holding a hand up. “If you choose to take part in this mission, come and find me later today. … Thank you.”

The crowd disperses. Kurt and Ororo both race to reach Scott first. Both volunteer. “Thank you, Kurt,” Scott says, and then he turns his attention to Ororo. “But Storm…” He leans close. This isn’t a conversation meant for the other mutants buzzing around them. “If this goes poorly, you’re the one I trust to take care of things here.”

Ororo nods. “I understand, Scott,” she says. “Just… do what you can to bring my family home.”

“Always do,” Scott says. She jerks, moves like she’s going to hug him and then remembers he isn’t usually a hugger. 

“Hey,” Jean says, swooping in and hugging Ororo tight. “We’ll be fine, ’Ro.”

II.

Paige follows Monet to her quarters. “I mean, this is crazy,” she says.

“You didn’t have to volunteer.” Monet places her hand on the panel beside her door. The door swooshes open. 

“But you did,” Paige points out, following her in. “So I had to.” 

“You really didn’t,” Monet says, grabbing a bottle of water from her mini-fridge and turning to face Paige. Her face is set; her mind is made. “We’ve come a long way from schoolgirls in Massachusetts, Paige. You don’t have to follow me everywhere I go.” 

“Yeah, I do,” Paige insists. “Because… Monet, listen. I… I  _ worry _ about you. Kind of all the time. Call it whatever you want, but this plan… it’s a suicide mission. Can you tell me that you didn’t volunteer… because deep down you  _ want _ to die?” 

Monet stares at her. She unscrews the lid of her bottle of water and takes a long swig, and then she looks back at Paige. “My life isn’t exactly peaches and caviar at the moment,” Monet says. “Or… ever. But no, Paige, right at this second I don’t actually have a death wish.”

“But—”

“I have sisters to think about,” Monet says. “I need to be doing everything I possibly can— everything  _ anyone _ possibly can— to keep the world safe for them. And I’m perfect. This mission leaves no room for errors. You do the math, hayseed.”

Paige leaps at her and hugs her. It’s hard to catch Monet St. Croix off-guard, but Paige has a knack for it. “Claudette and Nicole,” Paige says, voice muffled by Monet’s hair. “Cissy and Lewis, Mel and Ray Jr. and Jeb. We’ll do it for them.” 

III.

When Scott returns to his quarters, Abigail Brand is waiting for him, which is a little weird considering Brand definitely doesn’t know the location of Krakoa. “I want to join the Mother Mold mission,” Brand says. 

“Uh-huh?” Scott switches his visor for glasses. “Brand was a bad play, you know. She and I didn’t really get along.”

In the blink of an eye, Abigail Brand transforms into Kitty Pryde.

“Closer,” Scott admits. “Why do you want on this mission, Raven?”

Mystique shapeshifts back into her true form. “You think I don’t care about anything, but I do,” she says. “My daughter just got married. I want her to live a long and happy life, and if I have to blow up a sun to make that happen, I’ll do it.”

“Well… we aren’t blowing up any suns,” Scott starts to correct her. 

“Semantics,” Mystique growls. “I can infiltrate the Orchis group while we’re up there, blend in, if that’s what we need.”

Scott nods, considers it. “We don’t have room for secrets,” he says. “If you aren’t being 100% with me right now, you’re endangering your entire race.”

She looks down. “I know I have a past. I know the rest of the team— particularly Kurt— might not want me on the mission. But I swear, Summers, I’m in this. No tricks. No foul play.”

“You swear?”

“On Irene,” she whispers. 

IV.

Warren Worthington III’s body is cooling on the floor of the spacecraft. Paige Guthrie’s body lies beside his, covered by a blanket. They dated, once, Monet remembers suddenly, and the thought brings a bubble of manic laughter up her throat. 

She quashes it and tries to drag her eyes away from her dead friend. 

“She came here because of me,” Monet says quietly. 

It’s only her and Jean Grey, here with the bodies. The others are aboard the space station, making sure that Paige and Warren’s deaths mean something. “What?” Jean Grey says. 

Monet swallows. “Paige. She volunteered because I did.” Either Monet is going to die in the next ten minutes, or she isn’t. Both possibilities seem absolutely horrifying. 

Jean doesn’t say anything, but she brings her hands up to grasp at Monet’s hands, just the slightest pressure.  _ You’re not alone _ . Monet remembers that one of Jean’s best friends is also lying dead on the floor. 

She thinks of her mother. The needful things must come first. “Do the tasks that have been set in front of you,” her mother had told her. So if she doesn’t die, she can grieve for Paige later. 

But.

_ She came here because of me _ . 

V.

Logan would’ve at least liked a beer before plunging into nothingness. 

But making reckless decisions with the Elf, it’s almost like old times. And at least this is a lot faster than getting turned into a sleazoid. He stares out at the sun and asks Kurt one last time what he thinks will happen when they die, and Kurt promises to find him, after all this. 

They make the jump; Kurt is dead immediately.

Logan’s atoms cling together out of spite and practice. He takes as much of the Mother Mold out as he can. 

In the instant before death, Logan suddenly remembers that Kurt can’t actually return to Heaven. 

VI.

Warren is dead. Paige is dead. Raven is dead. Kurt is dead. Logan is dead. 

Scott races through the corridors of this murderers’ space station. Maybe, he thinks, it was always going to come down to just him and Jean. 

Then again, maybe not. 

VII.

Jean floats through the vacuum of space, trapped and safe in this escape pod Monet put her in. The people she loves blink out one by one like lights. She feels each of them, the broken telepathic contact, each death. 

Scott isn’t coming for her. Scott is dead. 

Nobody is coming for her. Nothing is coming for her.

Jean stares into the void, looks at the glittering stars through the porthole of the pod. She finds a star that’s brighter than the others, imagines it is something more than a bright ball of hydrogen and helium. “You could have stopped this,” she imagines It saying. “You could have stopped this if you had let me stay.” 

“Sorry, Jean,” she imagines the Phoenix telling her. “No more.” 


End file.
